


Love of my Life

by mariehamlett



Category: X-Men (Movieverse)
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, Nightangel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-07
Updated: 2020-02-23
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:35:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22606345
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mariehamlett/pseuds/mariehamlett
Summary: After deciding that Xavier's School for Gifted Youngster's was no longer safe for a group of mutants, they find themselves trying to make it in the world, experiencing hate, discrimination, and love. Together, the group bonds and finds a family they had all been searching for: one that wasn't the X-Men and wasn't Charles' school.
Relationships: Ellie Phimister/Yukio (Deadpool Movies), Kurt Wagner/Warren Worthington III, Peter Maximoff/Barry Allen, ororo munroe/jubliation lee
Kudos: 3





	1. Trauma

It would be a lie to say that Warren was gladly accepted into Xavier’s. The reality was, only two people wanted him there. The Professor claimed he loved all his students equally and treated them with respect, but it’s hard to do so when a certain angel tried to murder another student and take over the world.   
Most days, Warren was kept on bed rest. Due to the crash, the Worthington boy had broken three ribs, had serious burns to the left side of his face, and his secondary wings that En Sabah Nur had ‘graciously given’ him had died. Needless to say, Warren wasn’t complaining that he was in bed.   
The trouble came when it was time to use the bathroom, or shower, or do any necessary human activity. Late at night when McCoy was asleep and nobody was around to hear his calls for help, Warren had to fight back tears as he ripped the thin blanket off of him and desperately tried to sit up. Tears pricked his eyes as he adjusted his horrendous, metal wings in attempt to balance himself.   
Cursing, Warren steadied his breathing and held his breath as he carefully slid off the bed and placed his feet on the cold floor.   
The angel stood up in a quick motion and hurriedly walked to the bathroom in case his knees decided to randomly give way. Thankfully, they didn’t.   
Reaching the bathroom sink, he flicked on the switch and cringed at the sudden change of light. He truly looked pitiful. Not only was in desperate need of a haircut (he happened to be growing a rather unattractive mullet), but his left eye was still swollen. Hank’s medicine must have worn off a few hours ago..  
Sighing, Warren glanced over at the wings that stuck out like sore thumbs. If it were any other scenario than this one, Warren might have smirked.   
This past month and a half was truly shit, Warren thought.   
After using the bathroom, Warren made his way back to bed. The clock on the wall read 2 in the morning, but Warren was wide awake from pain and discomfort. He reached over on the bedside table Hank had put there, for his headphones and began to play a mixture of Led Zeppelin, Queen, and Metallica, however it wasn’t long before he had to turn it off due to the raging migraine that hit him like a truck.   
“Jesus fucking Christ,” he muttered as he ripped the headphones off and reached for the Ibuprofen, only to be met with an empty bottle. Great.   
Warren rubbed his temples and closed his eyes in attempt to alleviate the pain, but alas, a migraine was a migraine. What he felt he needed now was a few shots of vodka mixed with God knows what, but the last time he did that, it mixed with the medicine in his body and he threw up for hours on end and nearly had a heart attack. Needless to say, the Professor and McCoy were not pleased with him that night.   
It wasn’t as if Warren cared what they thought, it was just- he was genuinely getting better. He wasn’t screaming out in pain anymore, he could use the bathroom on his own (no matter how pitiful that sounded, he was proud of himself), and his ribs, for the most part, were healed. He wasn’t about to die now that he had the knowledge that he could actually get out of this hellhole sometime soon.   
Warren propped his pillow up and rolled his neck, cracking the bones that were aching from the migraine, and settled back down. It was clear that he wasn’t going to sleep anytime soon.  
Biting the inside of his cheek impatiently, Warren looked around for any sort of entertainment he could find. Seeing as he was in a lab, there wasn’t much.   
His eyes however, caught the glint of something metallic, other than his wings. Straining his neck to see what it was, Warren realized a pair of scissors lay perfectly still on one of the many counters.   
Throwing the blanket off of him once more, he cringed when he heard the tearing of fabric and quickly looked to see the sheet had caught somehow on his right wing and tore like a sheet of paper. Rolling his eyes, he carefully slid out of bed again and hobbled over to the counter and grabbed the sharp pair of scissors. Smirking, Warren knew how he was going to spend the next thirty minutes.   
Once in the bathroom, the angel once again rolled his neck, relieving the aching muscles there, and narrowed his sensitive eyes from the harsh LED lights.   
Warren had cut his hair many times before. It’s not like he went to a barber or a hair stylist when he was in Germany. It’s not like he could afford one, anyways. He learned from a young age that his hair grew fast, curly, and evenly, so it was usually pretty easy to cut.   
His current hair however, was an utter mess. The sides of his head were blonde and fuzzy, but not quite long enough to curl. It was a stretch to say he still had a Mohawk, due to the fact he hadn’t showered in 3 days and his hair was sticking in all sorts of directions. The worst of all, was the back of his hair.   
Not thinking about it too much, Warren snipped.   
***  
By the time he had finished, he was relatively pleased with himself. Golden curls lay on his shoulders, the floor, and the sink, despite his effort to keep it all in the sink. Although his hair was nowhere near perfect, and he still had his sides practically shaved, he was content.   
He was about to head back to bed when suddenly the mirror seemed to be vibrating.   
“What the-“ Warren whispered and looked over to see the soap and towel rack were shaking back and forth as well.   
An earthquake? Warren thought.   
His name was suddenly being called by Hank and Warren peaked his head out from the bathroom.   
“What’s going-“ Warren was caught off by Beast, who was currently in his blue form as he grabbed Warren’s wrist and began to pull him out of the lab.   
“Get off of me!” Warren yanked his wrist back effectively and sneered at McCoy.  
“We’re under attack! Come with me, or you’ll die!” Hank bitterly spat back. Warren felt his pupil’s dilating in a split moment of fear, but made the quick decision to follow Hank wherever he was running to.   
“Where are we going?” Warren yelled to Hank, who was already to the stairs.  
“To a safe place,” Hank practically pushed Warren up the first few stairs until Warren swatted his hands away and began running up the stairs himself despite his migraine and weak body.   
“I thought you guys said this was a safe place. That’s what Crawler and Xavier told me anyways,” Warren wrinkled his nose as he pushed open the door to the first level of the school. His nose was filled with smoke, and he coughed, shielding his already watering eyes.   
“Where’s the exit?” Warren coughed out as Hank rushed by him. He looked around to see kids running and screaming in pure panic and fear.   
“Follow me!” Hank yelled, recapturing Warren’s attention. The angel pushed past students without caring and followed Hank until they could both see the exit students were rushing towards.   
A familiar voice was yelling at the students to run into the forest, but was suddenly silenced as the sound of shattering windows and fire roaring left students screaming.   
Shaking his head, Warren ran outside and looked back to see the Mansion of fire, with several craters in it. Catching a glimpse of his only friend, Warren caught Ororo’s wrist and quickly asked, “what the hell happened?”   
Ororo had soot covering her face, shirt, and hands as she carried a smaller child on her back. “We were attacked again. Small bombs of some sort, I don’t fucking know.. Peter is trying to get everyone out, but it’s hard...” Warren nodded and looked back at the Mansion as more windows shattered with fire bursting out.   
Warren cursed as a black puff of smoke appeared next to him and a familiar blue creature appeared.   
“I can’t find two students,” he said, clearly out of breath. Ororo sat the child down on the grass and said in a hushed whisper, “are you sure Peter hasn’t gotten them?”   
Kurt nodded and gasped for fresh air. Ororo furrowed her eyebrows and worriedly and said, “Kurt, you look like you’re about to pass out. You’ve inhaled too much smoke as it is.   
“Es geht mir gut,” Kurt shook his head and disappeared in a black cloud again.   
“You two friends?” Warren raised an eyebrow. Ororo scoffed at this.   
“We are, and if you’d move on from your past and get it through your thick skull-“  
“Is this really the time to be talking about my ego, Ororo? Why don’t you do something? Make it rain to make the fire go down!” Warren yelled at her.   
“My name is Storm, you fuckface! Not Light Showers. If I were to try to dim the fire, I’d only make it worse with lightning!” She yelled back. Ororo, in fact, was the only one that actually yelled back to Warren. The only one that put him in his place. He muttered something under his breath and crossed his arms, looking at the Mansion as it went up in flames.   
A chilly breeze blew through and Warren shivered, hugging himself for warmth seeing as he only had a white t-shirt and grey sweatpants that Hank had provided.   
Warren looked over to Ororo who anxiously looked to the Mansion. “They’ve gotta get out of there. It’s gonna collapse and-“ as if on cue, the Mansion ruptured into flames one last time before in crumpled into a heap of sparks, flames, and ashes.   
Ororo covered her mouth with her hands and tears pricked her eyes. Feeling guilty, Warren wrapped his arm around her waist and she obliged with leaning into him. This was her home. She had made it her home. Unlike Warren. This was Warren’s place to recover, then he’d fly wherever the hell he pleased.   
Soon, kids were rushing like bees to honey around a certain part of the field, which peaked both mutants’ interests. Jogging over there, they easily pushed their way through to find Nightcrawler sprawled on the ground with serious burns to his right arm and left leg. Someone yelled to get the Professor and within a few minutes, both he and the rest of the X-Men were there.   
A girl named Jubilee rushed over to Ororo and they hugged. Warren furrowed his eyebrows at the sudden affection he saw and turned his attention back to Nightcrawler and the Professor.   
Jean Grey.. Warren locked eyes with Jean fucking Grey as she knelt down next to the elf and pressed her fingers on his temples. The boy awoke with a start and gasped for air. Not only were his iris’ a bloody red color, but the normal whites of his eyes were also red, no doubt from the smoke and lack of oxygen he endured, trying to get the children out.   
The mutant spoke wild German, not even Warren could understand. Kurt’s adrenaline must have worn off because he laid his head back down on the ground as tears rolled down his cheeks, and screamed for his God.   
“Kurt! Kurt listen to me!” Xavier tried to calm him down but to no avail. Crawler’s leg was twitching, no doubt from pain. Warren stepped back into the crowd and turned away from the sight. It reminded him all too well of the plane crash he endured. Even as he walked away towards the forest, Kurt’s pleas for help still rang in his ears and his sobs echoed through the field.


	2. The Decision

The sun was rising by the time everybody had settled down. Warren was leaning against a tree and Ororo was laying a few feet in front of him, in the grass, with her head in Jubilee’s lap. Looking down at the stick he’d been meddling with, Warren sighed. His migraine was gone, but so was the Mansion. And he was fucking hungry.   
Not that he cared, but it was hard to not notice, Xavier had put Nightcrawler to sleep and Hank as well as some other teachers took a car to a local Pharmacy to buy some medical supplies, not just for Wagner, but for any student who had been hurt.   
His stomach growled again for the seventh time and he bit the inside of his cheek. Warren couldn’t take it. He couldn’t just *sit* here like everyone else and mope and groan about their current situation. Standing up, his metal feathers rustled together creating a nails on chalkboard unpleasant sound and he stretched his arms to rid himself of the aches and he walked towards the road when somebody called out to him.   
“Where do you think you’re going?” Maximoff raised an eyebrow to him. In all honesty, Peter wasn’t too bad. He was, in fact, the one who had supplied Warren with alcohol before.   
“Out. I need to get outta here,” Warren muttered, not looking for conversation.   
“Care if I join?” He asked, standing up and walking towards Warren. Worthington raised his eyebrow.   
“Do I have a choice?”  
“Not necessarily. But I have a car, and your wings are shit right now,” Peter said, holding up a pair of car keys. Warren wanted to tell him to fuck off, but he was right.   
Just as the pair was about to walk to Peter’s car, several cars came racing down the dirt road that led to the demolished school and Warren only recognized two out of the five people. Erik Lehnsherr, who Warren had come to terms with, and Raven Darkholme who gave him a constant uneasy feeling.  
Raven put her hand over her mouth in pure shock, but snapped out of it as she and Erik rushed to find Xavier.   
“I suppose this means we’re not leaving?” Peter sighed.   
“On the contrary,” Warren muttered and walked towards the car the others had abandoned for Charles. Sliding in was easier said than done, but Warren adjusted his metal, restricting wings around himself and started the engine with the keys left in the ignition.   
“Dude,” Peter chuckled. “You’re insane.”   
“Yeah, well,” Warren sighed. “Insane got me through Germany.” Peter didn’t say anything about Warren’s sanity after that.   
The pair raced out of the mansion’s property and Warren narrowed his eyes, trying to keep the wind from blinding him too much due to the convertible’s top being down.   
“Where are the stores?” Warren asked, realizing how dumb he sounded.   
“Keep driving on this road and we’ll come into town in 5 minutes. All the stores you need will be there,” Peter informed, turning up the radio.   
If Warren was going to be honest, he’d say that he was, for once in his life, not in the mood for music. Any music. Too much had gone on and he was too tired to jam out. Except, he didn’t say anything. He just let Peter enjoy the station.   
***  
Parallel parking was Warren’s idea of hell. If there was a way you had to get into hell after you died, it would be by parallel parking. He hated it.   
“As if you can do any better,” Warren said bitterly after Peter gave him a look from his poor parking job.   
The two mutants got out of the car and stretched, looking around to see what was available.   
“Are we supposed to be the good person and actually pay for stuff?” Peter asked wearily. This time, Warren have him a look.   
“No.”  
Peter sighed in relief.   
“I’m as broke as a cursed mirror,” Peter joked, walking towards the small convenience store.   
“Do yourself a favor and shut the hell up,” the angel said, annoyed by the speedster. As soon as they walked in, several humans gave them passing looks and a small mutant girl smiled at Warren. He didn’t return it.   
Warren grabbed several bags of chips, a pack of gum, a soda, and beef jerky before nodding to Peter who grabbed a few more items before nodding in return. Peter walked nonchalantly over to Warren and grabbed his items before speeding out of the store.   
To make the whole scenario less suspicious, Warren headed to the bathroom. He didn’t actually have to go, so he just stood there awkwardly for 30 seconds or so and looked in the mirror. He searched his pockets for his phone before realizing he had left it on his bedside table, which, was probably reduced to ashes right now. Sighing, he looked at himself. The light scaring on his face would probably always be noticeable, but at least the tattoos covered it well. A sudden intrusive thought slammed into his head of Kurt’s agonizing screams of pain. Warren took a deep breath. That hit too close to home.   
Kurt was there for you. Why aren’t you there for him you ungrateful cunt?  
“What the hell..?” Warren whispered to himself. Shaking his head, he walked out of the store and adjusted himself in the passenger seat.   
“What the hell were you doing in there? Giving yourself a pep talk?” Peter asked, starting the car.   
“Shut up,” Warren glared at him, then looked outside. Within less than 10 minutes, the pair of mutants were back to the less than habitable mansion, seeing ambulances and fire trucks everywhere. News reporters, too, were interviewing students and teachers alike.   
“Fuck..” Peter said under his breath, as the two saw Erik spot them and walk towards the car they were exiting.   
“You two have fun? Where’d you go that was just.. so exciting you had to leave the rest of your classmates literally dying from smoke intake and burns. But you know, I’m glad you two had your rendezvous,” Erik spat. Warren furrowed his eyebrows and Peter shook his head and wrinkled his nose.   
“Jesus, Erik,” Peter pushed passed him but Erik kept his composure. Warren just looked at his fellow horseman and didn’t need telepathy to know the judgement Warren was receiving.   
*Kurt drug your burnt ass from a plane wreckage and you have the audacity to buy Fritos for yourself.*   
Yeah, the message was clear enough. Warren eventually walked to where a group of his mutuals were gathered.   
Yukio was sat on the grass and Ororo and Ellie were talking, both looking very concerned.   
“I don’t.. I just don’t understand. This shit happens every year- it isn’t fucking safe for us anymore. Hell, Wade knows that,” Ellie insisted to Ororo with her arms crossed.  
“Why are we talking about that fucker?” Warren asked, walking in mid-conversation. Ororo sighed.   
“Ellie thinks we should think about dropping out and going somewhere else since it’s not safe here,” she explained, looking over to the firefighters extinguishing the fire.   
“And you’re acting like that’s a surprise? Xavier’s prize student nearly killed me, like Ellie said, this shit happens all the time. Ororo, back in Cairo, how frequently did your home get bombed or raided?”  
Ororo pursed her lips. That hit her.   
“Not this often..” she rubbed her forehead.   
“Where else would we go?” Yukio asked from the ground, braiding the grass.   
Ellie looked at Warren and cocked an eyebrow.   
“No,” he said deadpan. Ellie made a face at him.   
“Hell no, the fuck? Are you on his side now? He can barely keep himself alive no matter 200 students,” Warren argued.   
“Who are we talking about?” Ororo asked.   
***  
“Absolutely not,” Charles said, rubbing his temples with his eyes clenched shut.   
“How come?” Ellie asked, arms crossed, her left hand covering a burn on her right arm.   
“He’s,” Charles paused. “You cannot be serious in thinking about going with him.”  
“Professor,” started Yukio quietly. “The mansion has either been raided, bombed, or blown up three times since I’ve been here,” She politely reminded him.  
Xavier sighed.   
“Wade Wilson is not someone who can take care of you,” he started.  
“And you can?” Warren cocked an eyebrow. The Professor leaned sideways in his wheelchair and looked Warren in the eyes, but Warren could see how nervous the man was.  
Suddenly, several news reporters came walking quickly their way with the cameramen and all.   
“Charles Xavier,” the man reporter began, the mic already pointing towards Charles’ face. “Charles Xavier may we have a word?”   
Charles, already exhausted, nodded politely and began answering their repetitive questions. Warren, Ororo, Yukio, Ellie, and Jubilee walked away and started towards the basketball court which was across the field from where they were currently.  
“Did you hear that three students are already confirmed dead?” Jubilee asked quietly. Warren kept quiet but his thoughts were loud. How old were they? Do their parents even know yet? Did they have parents?  
“Do you seriously think Wade would help us?” Ororo asked, shoving her hands in her pockets. Ellie furrowed her eyebrows, keeping silent for a moment to think about the honest answer.  
“I think he will help us… but I’m not sure for how long. We might be safe with the X-Force, though. Certainly safer than we are at Xavier’s…”  
Warren shook his head.  
“You know he tried to recruit me once,” he mentioned, offhandedly. Yukio gasped.  
“Really?” Warren nodded.  
“It wasn’t long after the apocalypse. He must have heard of me through the underground illegal cage fighting… thing,” Warren’s face grew red hot with embarrassment with his poor choice of words. “In any case, he came to recruit me, calling me Pigeon, but I was indisposed of at the time…”  
“Oh yeah,” Ellie cocked her head, her dark under eyes prevalent. “He mentioned wanting a… a bird or something?”  
Warren sighed. When the five of them reached the court, they collectively sat down.  
“Are we really going to do this?” Asked Jubilee, intertwining her fingers with Ororo’s, almost as a nervous habit. Yukio looked at Ellie, Warren looked at Ellie and then Ororo, and Jubilee looked at Yukio.  
“I guess we are,” Warren sighed, offering the group a few bags of chips from the plastic bag of snacks he still had in his hands.  
“What about Kurt?” Ororo asked.  
“What about him?” Warren raised an eyebrow, opening the bag of beef jerky, the aroma of the jerky making his stomach growl once more.  
“He’s one of my best friends, Warren,” she said earnestly, looking at him with serious eyes.  
“He is in my Historical Research and Theology class,” Yukio added, nodding at Ororo.  
“What he needs is intense medical care,” Ellie looked down at the asphalt. “Ororo, Wade can’t help him with third degree burns…”  
“Maybe he can’t… but Erik could,” Peter’s voice rang from behind Warren. Sitting down next to Warren, he nodded at Yukio.  
“How could Erik help Kurt?” Ororo asked suspiciously.  
“His safe haven. That island of his has like, at least fifty mutants,” Peter shrugged, taking a jerky from Warren’s bag. “Gotta be at least one healing mutant.”  
“And what if there’s not?” Ellie said. “What if we go all that way and there’s not a single mutant who can help Kurt?”  
“Then just go ask him, dumbass,” Peter gestured to Erik, steadying a firefighter’s metal ladder. “And don’t bother asking Warren or I. We sort of pissed him off for the time being,” Peter added.  
“Of course you did,” Ororo sighed. “I’ll ask him. We are on good terms.”  
“So that’s the plan, then? We go to Erik’s Island, heal Kurt, go to Wade and see if he can house and protect us for the time being, and then…” Jubilee faded out, waiting for the next piece of the puzzle to be laid down.  
“And then we try to live. Out there,” Warren gestured to the road leading to the gate that exits Xavier’s School. Ellie nodded, solemnly.  
“That’s the plan.”


	3. Genosha

Ororo walked up to Erik, smiling at him as he acknowledged her. She stayed quiet for a few moments, watching the firefighters put out the remainder of the fires.  
“Is there a possibility there is a mutant on your island that could heal Kurt?” She asked suddenly, getting straight to the point.  
“You don’t trust the doctors?” Erik asked quizzically.  
“No… it’s not that,” Ororo sighed and lowered her voice. “Several of us want to get out. For good. Xavier’s is no place for us. I want to take Kurt with us, but he’ll need to heal faster than what the human doctors will do for him if we want to leave anytime soon,” she explained.  
Erik pursed his lips, frowning.  
“My haven is for mutants who want peace from the outside world, not to be used just as you are in the X-Men,” Erik turned towards her, still keeping the ladder in place. Ororo’s face dropped and Erik looked over at Charles who was still being bombarded by reporters. He turned to face Ororo again.   
“There is one young man who will be able to help you. His name is Josh Foley,” Erik paused once more. “His mutation includes biological manipulation. He came in with his friend, Kevin Ford, around… two weeks ago now.”  
Ororo sighed. “I can’t thank you enough for this, Erik,” she insisted.  
“Get yourselves out of here,” Erik said, lowering his voice. “Who all is going?”   
“Warren, Ellie, Yukio, Jubilee, Peter, Kurt, and myself. We want to go to Wade Wilson first to see if he can help. Ellie seems to think he can,” Storm explained. Erik narrowed his eyes.  
“Be careful around him, Ororo. He can be just as dangerous as Charles, if not moreso.”  
“That’s what Warren said, but everyone seems pretty convinced he can help us out for the time being… I mean, from how Ellie described it, the X-Force is like a family, like how the X-Men can never be.”  
Erik nodded and looked at Ororo one last time.   
“I’m not sure if Wade will help you financially… I’ll send someone to you for that. Stay safe Ororo,” Ororo began walking away before she turned back and added.  
“When will you be back to your island? How will they know to trust us?”  
“Our code word is Brotherhood, but you could also just say I sent you… but I doubt they’ll believe you until the code word. Those on my island aren’t the most trusting of kin.” Ororo nodded and thanked him, jogging back to the basketball court.  
***  
“What did he say?” Jubilee asked, standing up and wiping her hands across her legs to get small bits of asphalt off.   
“He said that there’s a kid there, Josh Foley, that could help us. And there’s a code word too? To let them know we come and peace but also from Erik,” she nodded. “Now… how to get the jet from under our feet? The main entryway is a little blocked,” Ororo turned back towards the now smoldering mansion.  
“There’s got to be a lever out here,” Ellie suggested, looking around. The six of them began searching for a way to lift the basketball court up. Peter found it first and told everyone to get off of the court. Once the court was opened, revealing two jets, still intact from the bombing, Peter glanced over at Warren.  
“Yeah I got it,” he said, and individually flew each mutant underground besides Ororo, seeing as she needed to get Kurt and fly back to the jet. Peter began to buckle up, pressing all the rights and pulling all the right levers, with the keys already in the jet’s ignition, making his job so much more easier.  
“How do you know how to do all that?” Yukio asked, walking up into the jet, choosing her seat  
“When I came here, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to stay, especially since I came right as the mansion was exploding as well,” Peter explained.  
“Big surprise,” Warren huffed, thinking back to the mirror vibrating and explosions over his head.  
“Right?” Peter shook his head. “I made sure I could get myself and a few others out of here, so I watched Hank as he flew this several times.” Everyone seemed contempt with his answer and nodded.   
“Hold on tight,” Peter said, grinning, and Warren gripped his seatbelt, closing his eyes.  
“Afraid of heights?” Ellie joked, seeing his uneasiness.  
“More like the last time I was in one of these, Jean Grey turned it towards a nosedive and I nearly died,” Warren smiled sarcastically at her.  
“Alright kids, shut up,” Peter was finally ready and the jet began to lift off the ground and landed it softly on the grass once more and opened the jet hatch for Ororo. A mere 40 some seconds passed before she landed and was carrying Kurt in her arms, bridal style.  
“Damn,” Warren sneered, getting a whiff of Kurt’s odor: burnt skin and smoke.  
“Should I set him in a seat?” Ororo suggested, looking down at the unconscious elf in her arms. The six of them looked at each other and shrugged. They were very much unqualified to handle a third degree burn patient.   
“I guess? Just make sure his legs don’t rub up against the wall or the seat,” Ellie suggested, and Ororo nodded, seeing Yukio wince. Once everybody was settled in, Peter lifted off once more, seeing kids gather around to view the jet lift off. Warren among the others Charles probably knew what they were doing, but they thought it best not to question his lack of interference.  
“How long will it take to get there?” Jubilee questioned.  
“Well,” Peter started. “Genosha is off the coast of Madagascar, so if you want to take a nap before we arrive, go for it. Sonic,” Peter addressed Ellie using the nickname he graciously gave her. “Does Wade need to know we’re coming or do we just… show up?”  
“I do not think he could care less.”  
“Perfect.”  
The six plus and unconscious Kurt prepared for the long flight, some, like Yukio and Ororo, were already planning for a nap.  
***  
Some long eleven hours later, Peter sighed and leaned back in his pilot’s seat.  
“Did anybody think to bring food? I have a bag of trail mix,” he said, knowing the others were probably ravenous from not having breakfast, lunch, and now it being dinnertime.  
“I have a pack of gum and a bag of fritos,” Warren offered as well. Jubilee sighed.  
“Can I have some?” She asked quietly, and Warren nodded, reaching over to give her the back and catching a glance at a still asleep Kurt and couldn’t help but notice the burns on his neck and burns and he averted his eyes.   
“Warren, can you hand Ororo and Ellie the trail mix?” Peter asked and Warren nodded, grabbing a handful for himself as he passed it along.  
“Oh my God it’s here!” Peter said suddenly, slowing the jet down to not completely fly past the island.  
Yukio sat up in her seat, unable to hide her eagerness. Landing at the designated clearance, the six awake mutants sighed and smiled, even pessimistic Warren.  
Peter opened the hatch and asked Ororo if she needed help carrying Kurt and she insisted that she was fine, but stretched her arms before unbuckling him and picking the elf up once more bridal style, purposefully avoiding his burns.  
When the seven of them reached the actual village, a few mutants were already gathered there, suspicious of their arrival. Warren, Peter, and Ororo exchanged glances and walked towards a mutant with large dreadlocks.  
“Erik sent us, we need your help,” Ororo confessed, but the man said nothing, but simply crossed his arms. Jubilee nudged Ororo and her eyes lit up.  
“Oh,” she remembered. “Code word… Brotherhood?”  
The dreadlocked mutant huffed and cracked a smile and lowered his menacing stance, but a worried look took place of an offhand one.  
“What happened to you kids?” Another mutant asked, a woman, with long blonde hair. She must be in her early forties, Warren thought.  
“Our home was bombed… again,” Yukio explained. “We thought it was time to get out of there, but our friend was getting students out and he was burned badly,” she stepped out of the way to allow Kurt to be seen in Ororo’s arms. Both the kind looking woman and the dreadlocked mutant grimaced and looked at each other.  
“You’ll be wanting to see Josh, then, yes?” The six of them nodded.  
As they began to follow her, the man looked over at Warren and caught the crook of his arm.  
“I know who you are.”  
Warren tried to not look shocked or nervous, but the man probably read his face easily.  
“You’re welcome here,” the man said suddenly. “I read about you not only from Germany, but also from what happened not too long ago in Egypt,” he explained and Warren looked back at his group who was following the woman. Warren then looked at the ground and nodded.  
“It’s gonna be alright kid… you’ll get your wings back,” the man let go of Warren and he silently thanked him, before catching up with the group. The eight of them entered one of the many buildings and saw two boys, relatively the same height and the same age, standing in the middle of the room, facing each other.  
“Come on, Kev. I believe in you,” the blonde said, presumably Josh Foley, talking to his friend Kevin.  
“I can’t do it. I’ll never be able to control it,” Kevin Ford said, exasperated.  
The woman cleared her throat and the two boys turned towards her, confused at the group that had just entered the building. Warren saw Josh holding a beautiful daisy in his hands and Kevin with his hands hovering over it, hesitant to touch the flower.  
“Can we help you?” Josh asked, glancing at Kevin before looking back at the group. Kevin put his hands down and turned towards them as well.  
“We were told that you could help us. Well… help our friend specifically,” Jubilee explained, and Ororo stepped forward. “Our home, Xavier’s Institute, was destroyed again. We’re trying to get away, but Kurt, he’s…”   
Josh gave a knowing look and walked over to a wooden table in the room, clearing the cups and plates from it and told Ororo to lie him down there. Warren couldn’t help but notice how young Josh looked, seeing as he still had some baby fat left on his face, but he seemed so sure of himself. Himself and Kevin apparently. Warren admired that.  
Once Kurt was laying on the table, Josh assessed his wounds and began asking questions to Jubilee, then glancing over at Kevin, who watched respectively from a distance.  
Josh hovered his hands above the burn over Kurt’s leg and began saying, “I always tell Kevin, you know, you gotta learn when and where to use your mutation. It’s a gift, but used improperly can cause a lot of damage, and not just to others, but to yourself especially,” the boy said insightfully, healing the wounds.  
“If you don’t mind me asking, what is your mutation?” Ororo asked Kevin, seeing as he seemed like the polar opposite to Josh, in every aspect, literally. Josh’s hair being a bright naturally blonde and Kevin’s almost. Josh wore bright clothes and practically shone, and Kevin wore darker clothes and a leather jacket, and stood in the shadow of Josh’s demeanor.  
“Disintegration,” he said plainly. “Josh is trying to teach me to control it so I can stop disintegrating door knobs and spoons,” his face turned slightly red when he admitted that fact.  
“There’s, um,” Warren started, not knowing exactly why he did. “There’s a girl at our school, Kurt’s half-sister?” He looked at Ororo to make sure he got that information right: he did. “She has this mutation that basically snaps the strength and energy out of anyone she touches and gets like, a flood of their mutation and memories. I’m sure she would understand,” he looked at the ground, feeling awkward. Kevin’s reaction made the embarrassment worth it. His face lightened up, as if knowing someone else out there was like him.  
Suddenly, Kurt gasped awake, his pupils dilating so much, it was difficult to determine which eye color was present.  
“Hello Kurt,” Josh smiled warmly. “I’m Joshua Foley and you’re at Genosha, Erik’s island haven, you may have heard of it,” he said, completely having the situation under control. “I’m currently healing your burns, you don’t have to look at them if you don’t want to, but everything’s alright.”  
Kurt nodded, very confused, but seemingly okay.  
“Your friends are here beside you. I’m almost done. How are you feeling?”  
“Uh,” Kurt hesitated, looking to his left and seeing the group of mutants and smiled briefly before turning to face Josh again and saying, “I’m… good.”  
“Yeah?” Josh asked. “That’s amazing Kurt. You’re doing wonderfully.” A few seconds passed before Josh was finished and said, “Everything is better now, down to the last nerve ending,” and helped Kurt sit up.  
“I used to be an EMT before joining Kevin and coming to Genosha. Sorta helps in times like these,” Josh explained. Jubilee suddenly hugged him, pushing past Warren and Ellie. Surprised, it took a second for Kurt to register what was happening and who was hugging him before he hugged back.  
“Jubilee,” Kurt smiled and said fondly, before hugging her as well. Kurt saw Warren and gave a small smile to him, before closing his eyes and hugged Jubilee tightly.   
“How did we… how did we get here?” Kurt asked, breaking away from Jubilee.  
“I flew,” Peter said fondly.  
“And… how’s the mansion?” Nobody responded to Kurt and nobody certainly looked him in the eyes.  
“It’s very much gone,” Ellie started. “We decided it was time to get out. We don’t need to keep living in a place that’s blown up or raided every other year.”  
Kurt looked down sadly, his tail drooping on the floor.  
“So… where do we go now?” Warren recognized that question and tone of voice. He knew Kurt meant to ask, ‘do we have a home?’ and if the group was being honest, no. They didn’t.  
“We’re supposed to be headed to Wade’s-” Peter started.  
“Wade?” Kurt interrupted.  
“Deadpool. The guy that Colossus always tries to make a good guy,” Ellie intervened. Kurt nodded, understanding.  
“We’re supposed to be heading to his place after this, but honestly, all of us could use a meal and some sleep,” Ororo finished, knowing how famished everyone is.  
Josh crossed his arms and nodded, “When was the last time you guys ate?”  
“Six o’clock yesterday,” Warren said, knowing that Hank brought his dinner down the same time the students ate their dinner.  
Kevin grimaced and looked over at Josh.  
“Well, he started,” almost everyone is asleep right now, seeing as it’s four in the morning, but I can show you guys to spare rooms if you want to sleep before breakfast?”  
The others nodded and said that that would be great.  
“God, we’re gonna be so jet lagged,” Peter said offhandedly, following Kevin out of the building.  
“Thank you,” Kurt said quietly to Josh. Josh smiled.  
“Try to be more careful. Your life comes before those of others.” Kurt nodded and followed the others out.  
“So why are you two awake again?” Yukio asked Kevin.  
“Well, Josh has to get up early for his chores, but he thinks that if I can control my mutation when I’m dead asleep, doing it when I’m fully awake and alert should be no problem,” he explained.  
“And do you believe that’s the best way to do it?” Ororo asked, intrigued, and Kevin shrugged.  
“All of you are aware that there is no instruction manual on how to control your mutation, so if he thinks this is the best way… then I trust him. I mean it makes sense,” Kevin said, and the others nodded.  
Climbing up a set of stairs, Kevin gestured to a few rooms and said that there were only six rooms available in this building, but another person could sleep in the next building over, but Ellie and Yukio said they could just share a room and Kevin nodded, smiling at them one last time before bounding down the stairs again. Warren opened the door to his room, thinking this place was the most ratchet motel he’d ever seen, but grateful for the bed and the actual metal slates used for a roof over his head.  
He laid down on his back, adjusting his metallic wings to lay across the bed and on either side of him. Holding a pillow close to his head and chest, it took no time before Warren was asleep.


	4. Wings

Warren was woken up five hours later to the sound of a bell ringing. Sighing, he sat up and rubbed his eyes, grimacing slightly from his two day old clothes and the lingering smell of smoke that was on him. The sun was already shining through the poorly covered windows and he looked out, seeing mutants of all ages gathering towards the dining pavilion.  
Swinging his legs off the side of the bed, he stretched, accidentally nicking his arm on his metallic wings, cutting his bicep.  
“Shit,” he whispered, quickly putting his arm down and applying pressure to the small wound. Frowning, Warren stood up and walked outside, wanting to feel refreshed from the warm sun and slight breeze, but ultimately feeling sleep deprived and jet lagged. Leaning on the railing, Warren looked once more at his slightly bleeding arm and huffed, then back up, seeing Ororo and Nightcrawler talking and walking together with another mutant Warren didn’t know. He frowned.  
***  
“Morning sunshine,” Peter regarded Warren with a raising of his coffee mug once Warren stepped into the pavilion.   
“Where are the others?” Warren said, ignoring Peter’s chipperness.  
“Kurt and Ororo are getting their food and Ellie and Yukio are sleeping in, I think,” he shrugged. “That’s on them when they’re starving mid flight.” Warren nodded, walking over to where the food was being handed out.   
The mutant Warren saw before with Ororo was clinging to Kurt’s arm, smiling and laughing at whatever he said. Warren cleared his throat and the two of them looked at him. There was a momentary silence before Warren said, “You’re in the way.”  
“Hm,” the girl regarded Kurt. “He’s as charming as you said he was.” Her long brunette hair was loose on her shoulders and her eyes were a dark brown. She would be pretty if she didn’t look so needy, Warren thought.  
Eventually, he shoved past the two and got a paper plate, piling freshly made eggs and a biscuit on.   
“Who’s your friend?” Warren inquired sarcastically when Kurt stood next to him, getting a plate for himself.  
“I have no idea,” he whispered, keeping a straight face as to not cause alarm to his ‘friend’ who was watching from a distance. Warren could almost laugh.  
“She just… introduced herself to me and then… well you saw,” Kurt looked pleadingly at Warren who shook his head.  
“Good luck with that,” the angel said, placing a hand on Kurt’s shoulder as he walked away, not quite understanding why. He didn’t necessarily want to be friends.  
Sitting down next to Ororo and Peter, Ororo waved to Jubilee who was just stumbling out of her room from over sleeping.  
“When do we leave?” Warren asked, stuffing his face with food.  
“Eager to leave?” Peter laughed. “Sometime around noon. I’m not very excited for another eleven hour flight, are you?” Warren shook his head.  
Kurt sat down on the other side of Peter, sighing, mouthing, ‘what’s her name again?’ to Ororo, making her laugh.  
“Cornilia?” She suggested. Warren honestly couldn’t care less, but if he was being honest with himself, he was excited. Really excited. It wasn’t the first time he’d been on his own, but he was with people he considered… almost friends. People who he could trust at least.  
“What do you guys wanna do when we get to Wade’s?” Peter suggested.  
“Sleep for twenty-four hours,” Jubilee sighed, sitting next to Ororo.  
“Get a job,” Ororo nodded, with Peter giving her a look. “Seriously. And not teaching. As much as Xavier wanted me to teach earth science, I could literally not care any less about that. I want to be a barista.”  
“What about you Kurt? You’re a new man, what do you want to do? You want a job, too?” Peter asked, looking over at him as he sipped his water.  
“I want to go to an art gallery… I’ve never been,” he admitted. Jubilee smiled.  
“We’ll go together,” she promised.  
“You guys are boring,” Peter sighed, leaning back in his chair.   
“Alright then, what do you want to do?” Warren questioned, putting his elbows on the table.  
“Thanks for asking,” Peter began. “I want to start a band.”  
Ororo laughed, saying that he was ridiculous and Peter’s smile dropped, muttering something along the lines of her being an ass.  
Warren looked to his right, seeing the two mutants from the previous night… or early morning, sitting at the table together, Kevin seeming particularly frustrated from the disintegrated napkin that lay on the table now. Warren looked down, wondering if he could work up the courage to ask Josh the question he’d been wanting to ask ever since he learned Josh had biological manipulation for a mutation.  
‘Man up,’ he thought to himself. ‘You have your opportunity. Go get it.’  
“Warren?” Kurt perked up. “Are you alright?” Warren looked back over to the elf who had a worried look on his face.  
“‘M fine,” Warren lied and finished his breakfast.   
“I’m going for a walk,” the angel said, standing up and tossing his plate away, and the others nodded.  
Warren took a deep breath as he got away from the others and walked in a random direction, one that he had seen when they were about to land that seemed empty and void of mutants at the moment. He put his hands in his pocket, unsure of what to do with them.  
‘My wings,’ he thought. ‘Could Josh heal them? I don’t fucking care if my ribs get ripped out again, I need this fucking metal gone.’ The angel looked up and saw he wasn’t far from his destination: strawberry fields. He wasn’t sure what he was going to do when he got there, just stand there awkwardly? He didn’t care. He just needed to get away from the others and have a moment to breathe and think quietly.  
‘Josh won’t want to heal your wings. He already healed Wagner. We already owe him enough.’  
‘But…’ Warren thought again. ‘He seemed chill… in this place, mutants are supposed to help each other, right?’  
He reached the strawberry patches. Bending down, he picked a ripe berry and quickly rubbed it on his shirt to get any visible dirt off, and bit half of it, chewing quickly in case anybody saw him.   
“Warren!” He heard his name being called. Shit.  
Warren quickly turned around, tossing the half eaten strawberry on the ground behind him.  
“That’s your name, right? I apologize, I’m terrible at remembering names,” Josh smiled, jogging the rest of the way to Warren. The angel nodded. Josh had a bright smile on his face that complimented his bright blonde hair. Warren could have chuckled when Josh cursed when he stepped on a rock, hurting his bare feet. He was a kid that felt easy to be around.  
“Hey, I wanted to talk to you,” he said easily, looking up at Warren.  
“Why?” Worthington asked suspiciously.  
“Well,” Foley started. “I wanted to help you, if you’d allow me to. I noticed earlier this morning that your wings were hurting you. At least, that they were heavy. Forgive me if this is all-”  
“They hurt.”  
Josh looked up at Warren, his face relaxing.   
“A lot of this hurt… actually… I was in a plane accident recently,” Warren confessed. “I, uh, was apart of the Apocalypse in Cairo that happened recently,” Warren begged himself to stop talking.  
“No shit!” Josh laughed. “So you’re the archangel Erik talks about!”  
“Did you think there was another mutant with wings and face tattoos?”  
“Well…” Josh looked up at Warren and smiled, shaking his head. “So how can I help you? I assume you have a few bruised ribs?”  
“That, among other things,” he admitted.  
“Other things?” Warren looked away, behind Josh and around, to see if anybody was within earshot of them.  
“I used to have white, feathered wings. En Sabah Nur,” Warren’s voice cracked and his cheeks flushed hot from embarrassment and remorse for that name. “The uh, the god that nearly started the Apocalypse, he gave me these metal wings.”  
“Oh dear…” was all that Josh could manage after Warren told the story. “I’m… I’m so sorry. I can fix them too if you would like? God… having metal wings after a lifetime of feathered ones?” Josh asked full of pity. All Warren could bare to do was nod slightly, mouth shut tight.  
“Well, it won’t take long at all, and I promise you it won’t be as painful as your previous experience, but if you don’t mind, I would like to do it indoors. It can be disorienting and I wouldn’t want you getting dizzy or have nausea out here,” Josh said, hoping Warren would understand. He did.  
Warren followed Joshua back to the buildings, ignoring the inquisitive looks of Ellie and Yukio, as they stood out on their porch. As they entered the same building Warren and the others found Josh and Kevin in, Warren was able to appreciate the decor more. The whole room had a sort of bohemian style to it, with rugs everywhere, plants by the open windows, and a bed in the corner with several layers of blankets on it.  
“Should I sit down?” Warren asked.  
“That’s entirely up to you,” Josh smiled. “But I recommend it.” Warren nodded, going over and sitting on the same table Kurt was laid upon. Josh stretched his hands two or three times before turning to Warren and nodded, stepping to Warren’s right and placing his hand on Warren’s right shoulder and left his other hand hovering over Warren’s ribs.  
The healing began and Warren stiffened, but Josh quickly told him to relax and he would be much less sore afterwards if he was relaxed during the process. Warren tried to do so, but it was difficult. Warren couldn’t exactly say how he was feeling: it wasn’t the tingly feeling he had expected it to be. It didn’t feel like the TENS machine. It was more like a warm, fluid feeling. As if a heat pack had been placed inside his body.   
Josh must have finished with his ribs because it no longer hurt to breathe, and the moved onto his back.   
Foley walked around to the back of the table and steadied himself by using Warren’s shoulder again, and hovered his other hand around the middle of Warren’s back, careful not to touch the scarred skin or the metal-soon-to-be-feathered wings. The process would take longer than his ribs did, but Warren didn’t mind. If he was feeling the worst of it, then he would take this over anything any day.   
“You’re going to hear and feel the metal feathers start falling off, but you shouldn’t feel any pain,” Josh announced, and as he said so, a clatter of a metal feather hit the floor. Warren was expecting the fiery sensation of a feather being pulled, but again he was left with the heat pack feeling against his nerve endings.  
Warren couldn’t tell how long this lasted; he’d never been good with time. Hell, when he was being transported back to Xavier’s from the Apocalypse, it felt like an eternity. Soon enough though, Warren felt the smooth brush of a new, white feather against his skin, and shivered. Oh how he’d missed that feeling.   
Looking back, he saw a wing full of feathers and saw a grinning Josh.   
“I much prefer these,” Foley admitted.  
“Me too,” Warren said, standing up and extending his wing (not to its full span), and admired his appendage that gave him his identity and his confidence. He felt himself again at once.  
“Josh, I…” was Warren getting emotional? “I don’t know how to thank you.”  
“There’s no need, Warren,” Foley smiled. “Just don't go ruining your wings again.”  
Warren genuinely laughed. From trying to cut them off when they sprouted, to his father trying to chop them off, to Germany and getting them fried, to having metal wings in their place, Warren was tired of hurting his wings.  
When Warren walked out of the building, he felt like a new man. Or more, he felt like he was himself again. Sure, the tattoos on his face and neck would always remind him of his mistake, but his wings were back.  
He confidently walked back to the dining pavilion where he hoped his friends still were, relishing in every stroke of a feather that grazed his arms.  
Ororo was the first to see him, then Kurt, then following with the rest. Everyone seemingly rushed over to Warren, asking what happened and how he got his wings back. The only one who seemed worried was Kurt. Warren gave him a look that probably came off harsh, seeing as Kurt whispered something to Jubilee before bamfing away.  
Warren didn’t care. Of course he didn’t. The elf could have the decency to care though, seeing as he was the reason his wings were ruined in the first place.  
“Don’t mind him,” Jubilee smiled pitifully. “He… he feels bad.”  
Oh…  
***  
“Alright bitches and sons of, let’s roll,” Peter announced, buckling his seatbelt in the pilot seat of the jet.   
“What did he say?” Kurt asked quietly to Ororo, but her answer, if there was any, was drowned out by the engines roaring to life. This time, the team had prepared, with food for days on board and water for plenty. Cornilia also gave Kurt a blanket and a wink when he began to board the jet, and when he turned away, he wrinkled his nose in disgust, Warren saw.   
The seven were ready to head back to New York, but instead of heading to the death trap of a school, they were headed to Wade Wilson’s.  
“I suppose I should tell you about this dude,” Ellie spoke up, already sounding over the conversation. Warren rolled his eyes.   
“He’s ugly,” she started.  
“But nice,” Yukio added.  
“Immature and inappropriate.”  
“Funny.”  
“Has no respect for decency or other’s feelings.”  
“That’s not true!”  
“And he’s a fucking douche bag,” Ellie finished.  
Kurt raised his hand slightly.  
“Why are we going to him if he is so bad?”  
Ellie sighed and looked over to Warren.  
“He’s our best shot at getting away from Xavier and actually living,” Warren said, looking straight ahead at the ocean as Peter flew over.


End file.
